Mixmaster version 3 -- anonymous remailer software -- (C) 1999 Anonymizer Inc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREVIEW VERSION --- WARNING: THIS SOFTWARE IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT! This program consists of * a remailer client: The remailer client supports sending anonymous mail using Cypherpunk and Mixmaster remailers, managing pseudonyms at Newnym nym servers and receiving mail anonymously from Cypherpunk remailers. It supports OpenPGP encryption (compatible with PGP 2, PGP 5 and up, and GnuPG). The client can be used with a menu-based user interface and with command line options. * a remailer: The remailer supports the Cypherpunk and Mixmaster message formats. It can be integrated with the mail delivery system of Unix-based computers or use the POP3 and SMTP protocols for mail transfer. Mixmaster includes an automated abuse-handling system. Please report any problems via the bug and patch trackers at http://sourceforge.net/projects/mixmaster/ [Note: The final release of Mixmaster 3.0 will include the improved Mixmaster protocol version 3.] Installation: ------------ Libraries: Mixmaster uses the cryptographic library OpenSSL. If you want to use the menu-based user interface, you also need the ncurses library. If these libraries are not installed on your system, get them from ftp://mixmaster.anonymizer.com/ and extract them in the Src directory first. The Perl Compatable Regular Expressions library can be obtained from ftp://ftp.csx.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/programming/pcre/ The zlib compression libraries can be obtained at http://www.gzip.org/zlib/ To install or upgrade Mixmaster, type `./Install'. Mixmaster uses lists of currently operating remailers and information about their reliability. You can get the current remailer lists from http://stats.melontraffickers.com/ and http://anon.efga.org/ and via finger from nym.alias.net: pubring.asc Type 1 remailer keys pubring.mix Type 2 remailer keys rlist.txt List of reliable type 1 remailers mlist.txt List of reliable type 2 remailers type2.list List of known type 2 remailers (optional) If you wish to participate in the Remailer Abuse Blocklist, you will need to obtain the blocklist file from http://www.paracrypt.com/remailerabuse/ and place it in your Mix directory. This may be automated with cron. For support for multiple RAB services, edit the file Src/config.h manually, and add additional block files to the existing line, such as: #define DESTBLOCK "dest.blk rab.blk rab2.blk rab3.blk" Note that only the first file should the the local block list, as it is the only file mix will open for writing. Most users will not need to edit config.h. Using the remailer client: ------------------------- To use the menu-based user interface, simply run `mix'. To send an anonymous or pseudonymous reply to a message from within your mail or news reader, you can pipe it to `mix'. The interactive mode supports sending mail, manages pseudonymous accounts at nym servers and contains a simple mail reading function. OpenPGP messages are encrypted and decrypted automatically. It can also decrypt messages encrypted to ordinary non-anonymous OpenPGP keys if you use the same passphrase for the nyms as for the OpenPGP key. In the non-interactive mode, Mixmaster reads a message from a file or from its standard input. The command line options are described in the manual page (mix.1). Mixmaster as a remailer: ----------------------- The Mixmaster remailer can be installed on any account that can receive mail. Non-remailer messages will be delivered as usual. If you have root access, you may want to create a new user (e.g., `remailer') and install Mixmaster under that user id. The Install script provides a simple way to set up the remailer. More information about configuring Mixmaster can be found in the manual page. Typically, incoming mail is piped to "mix -RM". In a UUCP setting, it may be useful to use just "mix -R", and run "mix -S" once all messages have arrived. Announcing a new remailer to the public is most commonly done by posting the remailer keys and capabilities to alt.privacy.anon-server as well as the "remops" mailing list. Information about the remops list can be found here: http://lexx.shinn.net/mailman/listinfo/remops To upgrade from a Mixmaster 2.0.* remailer installation, make a backup of your keys and configuration files before you run Install. Installation problems: --------------------- In case one of the libraries Mixmaster uses is installed incorrectly on your system, place the library source code (available from ftp://mixmaster.anonymizer.com) in the Src directory, remove the old Makefile, run the Install script again and answer `y' when asked whether to use the source code. The ncurses library can use termcap and terminfo databases. The Mixmaster Install script tries to find out whether terminfo is available. If you get a "Can't open display" error when starting the Mixmaster menu, run "./configure --enable-termcap; make lib/libncurses.a" in the ncurses directory. Security notes: -------------- The ciphers and the anonymizing mix-net protocol used in Mixmaster correspond to the state of the art (see the Security Considerations section of the Mixmaster Protocol specification for details). However, no security proofs exist for any practical cryptosystem. It is unlikely that their security will be broken, but there is no "perfect security". Software can also contain implementation errors. The complete Mixmaster source code is available for public review, so that everyone can verify what the program does, and it is unlikely that security related errors or secret back doors in the software would go unnoticed. No software is secure if run in an insecure environment. For that reason you must make sure that there is no malicious software (such as viruses) running on your computer. Deleted files and even passphrases can in many cases be read from the hard disk if an adversary has access to the computer. The use of disk encryption programs is recommended to avoid this risk. Anonymous messages are secure as long as at least one of the remailers you use in a chain is honest. You can use up to 20 remailers in a chain, but reliability and speed decrease with longer chains. Four is a reasonable number of remailers to use. Many remailer operators sign their keys. You should verify those signatures with OpenPGP to make sure that you have the actual remailer keys. Anonymous keys usually cannot be introduced to the OpenPGP web of trust without giving up anonymity. For that reason, this client will use any OpenPGP key found on the key ring, whether it is certified or not. Your key ring must not contain any invalid keys when used with this program. If you want to use a pseudonym, the client will ask you for a passphrase to protect the nym database. Your passphrase should be long, and hard to guess. Anyone who gets hold of your nym database and private keys and can determine the passphrase will be able to compromise your pseudonymous identities. Note that some operating systems may store your passphrase on your hard disk in clear. While a good client passphrase can protect your keys if someone gets hold of your files, the remailer passphrase offers only casual protection for the remailer keys. If you install a remailer, the remailer passphrase must be different from your private passphrases. Copyright: --------- Mixmaster may be redistributed and modified under certain conditions. This software is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the file COPYRIGHT for details. A license is required to use the IDEA(TM) algorithm for commercial purposes; see the file idea.txt for details. Mixmaster uses the compression library zlib by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler, the free ncurses library and the regex library by Philip Hazel. This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com). This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://www.OpenSSL.org/). For some platforms: This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. $Id: README,v 1.5 2002/08/13 23:36:44 rabbi Exp $